28th june 2007 - 8 o'clock

"Using a strict geographical criterion, the term "Upper Danube" covers the 1100km between the source of the river and the Gönyü waterfall, hydrologically speaking, it is the 1010km between the sources and the inflow of the Morava; in terms of international law, it is the 2050km stretch that reaches to the Iron Gate and so to the former Turkish border. (The Bavarians, with their somewhat more narrowly-formed regional perspective end it at the bridge in Regensburg amd call the short stretch between Regensburg and Passau the "Lower Danube")."
Claudio Magris; "Danube"

it is 8am and we are passing the first german lock. A moment later there is a police car on the street that runs parallel to the river. We’re stopped!!! I think I must be dreaming. It turns out that the lock-keeper, as green as he is educated, put them onto us. He had probably never seen a ship like ours go by before. Something odd must be going on and he has to get to the bottom of it.